My Reproductive Immunologist is pregnant and over-reacting.

So, at last week's 28 week scan, my ob-gyn detected a slight notch on my left uterine blood vessel. It could be something. It could be nothing. She just said it was a flag that I MIGHT get preeclampsia or hypertension before baby gets to early term. To be on the safe side, she had me visit my reproductive immunologist (RI) because the notch might be due to my blood clotting issue.

First of all, I just found out my RI is pregnant and she is cutting back her clinic hours. It was already hard to get time on her calendar and now it's doubly hard. I don't blame her. She has HG and ironically, her allergies are on overdrive when pregnant.

But, what annoys me is that when she took my appointment, she barely looked at the results of my ultrasound or discussed things with me. She just bluntly says, "You have notching. I'm recommending that you get IVIG treatments. That's the only path available."

Seriously? The only path? So, I pushed back and said I didn't feel comfortable with that. I've done my research on Immunoglobin treatments and they are not without a fair share of risks. In fact, IVIG is known to cause higher blood pressure, ergo hypertension, which is exactly what I'm avoiding.

Plus, each infusion is $5,000 a pop! And you're supposed to do 5-7 infusions! And each infusion lasts a day, which requires a hospital confinement. Sure, having a healthy baby at the end is worth every penny, but I'd like to consider other options first.

When I told her I did some research on IVIG and I'm not comfortable with the risks, she gives me a condescending look and says, "Reading things on google does not equivalent a medical opinion." So, I said I asked my sister about it and she's an OB Gyn in the US and she says, "But she's not an RI and she doesn't have my experience."

Well, my sister also doesn't just rush into expensive, risk-ridden procedures without looking into other options either.

Ugh. Annoying. Anyway, she conceded and increased some of my meds (prednisone, heparin) and said I need to get another ultrasound tomorrow. I'm hoping that the notch was a one day thing and that my OB-gyn will be more reasonable to talk to.

I'm delivering this baby at 38 weeks, so only have 9 weeks to go. I just want to get to term. Sigh. I really hate it when I feel like a doctor just looks at me like a payday or a statistic. Sure, everyone needs to make a living but jesus. Fear mongering is such poor form.

Rant over. Just needed to write that somewhere.

--

38 yo, Wife to Oz (40yo), Mama to McKenzie (Born 9/2014) and George (Born 11/2018)

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